Chris Tomlinson saw a world Indoor long jump gold medal snatched from his grasp by Godfrey Mokoena at the World Indoor Championships in Valencia.
Tomlinson finally looked likely to confirm the vast potential he first displayed by smashing Lynn Davies' 34-year-old national outdoor record at a small US meeting in Tallahassee in 2002.
But his determined South African rival - a former world junior silver medallist - spoilt his dreams when overhauling him by two centimetres with a leap of 8.08 metres in the fifth round.
Tomlinson took the massive blow firmly on the jaw, which is not surprising considering the disappointments he has endured since emerging as the leading successor to Olympic legend Davies.
The 26-year-old Teessider explained: "I had a reasonable time out there, it would have been better if I had managed to win, but it's my first major medal.
After taking the early lead, he admitted: "I was obviously thinking through the rounds 'Is 8.06m going to be good enough to win it?'
"But if someone had offered me this beforehand, I would have accepted it."
Tomlinson has blown hot and cold at major championships, and although he was a creditable sixth at the last Olympic Games, he then struggled to maintain his momentum.
He was dogged by two years of persistent injuries but returned to top form last summer, increasing his British record and was considered a genuine medal contender at the World Championships.
However, in Osaka Tomlinson was poor in his qualifying round and failed to live up to his reputation by not even making the final.
There was a smile rather than disappointment on his face at the end of tonight's competition, knowing at least his girlfriend, Lucia Rovardi, would give him a great welcome on returning home.
'Don't bother to come back if you haven't got a medal,' he was told by the West End actress before leaving for Valencia.
Allan Scott, after winning his 60m hurdles heat and semi-final, had another flying start in the final and led his rivals out of the blocks.
But the 25-year-old Scotsman was pulled back at half distance and eventually faded to sixth position in 7.65 seconds as China's Olympic 110m hurdles champion Liu Xiang won in 7.46sec.
Helen Clitheroe and Lisa Dobriskey were never medal contenders in the 3,000m final, where Ethiopian Meseret Defar won a third successive title in eight minutes 38.79 seconds.
Clitheroe took eighth place in 8min 52.77sec with Dobriskey a couple of strides behind, clocking 8min 52.92sec.
Sarah Claxton, after achieving a season's best of 8.07sec, was desperately unlucky not to progress into the 60m hurdles final.
The four-time British indoor champion had the same time as Aleksandra Antonova, but the electronic timing equipment favoured the Russian, who was awarded the fastest loser slot.
Richard Hill was in a good position to make the 800m final but slipped to fourth place in the last 200m as Dmitriy Bogdanov and Yusuf Kamal took the automatic qualifying slots.
Russia's Bogdanov, a former European gold medallist, pipped his Bahrain opponent by 0.05sec, winning in 1min 46.83sec, with Hill clocking 1min 47.82sec.
Richard Buck, another promising young athlete, failed to make the 400m final, finishing fifth in his heat in 47.60sec.
Jenny Meadows produced a lifetime best but remains an outsider for an 800m medal tomorrow after coping easily with the very fast pace in her semi-final.
Tetiana Petlyuk, last year's European silver medallist from the Ukraine, led throughout, going through 400m in 57.60sec to win in a season's best of 1min 59.58sec.
But Meadows, who sliced 0.15sec off her year-old personal best with a time of 1min 59.73sec, always looked very comfortable in the Ukrainian's slipstream.
Commonwealth triple jump champion Phillips Idowu now seems the only likely candidate to add to the four silver medals amassed by the British side in tomorrow's final day of action.
More news from SportingLife.com
